In 1931 the First Presidency issued a statement to all General Authorities stating that the Church had no doctrine concerning the existence of pre-Adamites. Although it may seem strange, in addition to the direct involvement of B.H. Roberts, Joseph Fielding Smith, and James E. Talmage was the indirect involvement of a Seventh-day Adventist: George McCready Price. Price was an amateur geologist who sought to reconcile the Bible and the teachings of Ellen G. White with science.
The result of this effort, explained in The New Geology and other works, came to be known as 'flood geology,' a concept that sought to explain all of the fossil strata as a result a global Noachian flood. Price's publications influenced--or at least gave support to--Joseph Fielding Smith's views of earth history and Smith invoked Price's writings in the 1931 controversy. James Talmage, on the other hand, had no patience for Price's arguments. Although the controversy was halted by the First Presidency statement, Price's influence on Joseph Fielding Smith continued. In his later book Man, His Origin and Destiny, Joseph Fielding Smith referenced or recommended two of Price's books.
Although this slice of history is of particular interest to Mormons, Price had a much larger influence on fundamentalism and creationism that can still be seen today. The story of the creationist movement is the subject of historian Ronald L. Numbers' book, The Creationists. If you want to understand the history of the creationist movement--and to some extent the newer intelligent design movement--this is the book to read.
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Numbers was born and raised as a Seventh-day Adventist and instructed in strict George McCready Price-style teachings. He later abandoned the instruction of his youth. I vividly remember the evening I attended an illustrated lecture on the famous sequence of fossil forests in Yellowstone National Park and then stayed up much of the night with a biologist friend of like mind...first agonizing over, then finally accepting, the disturbing likelihood that the earth was at least thirty thousand years old.
Although now estranged from his Adventist roots and its creationist teachings, Numbers seeks to treat the topic and its adherents (which included his own father) with respect.
There are several catagories of creationism with shades between them. So-called young earth creationism (YEC) is the strictest form and established itself as synonymous with 'flood geology,' and 'scientific creationism' or 'creation science.'
By the late nineteenth century even the most conservative Christian apologists readily conceded that the Bible allowed for an ancient earth and pre-Edenic life. With few exceptions, they accommodated the findings of historical geology either by interpreting the days of Genesis 1 to represent vast ages in the history of the earth (the so-called day-age theory) or by separating a creation "in the beginning" from a much later Edenic creation in six literal days (the gap theory). Either way, they could defend the accuracy of the Bible while simultaneously embracing the latest geological and paleontological discoveries...
The creation scientists, by contrast, compress the history of life on earth into less than ten thousand years. To accomplish this, they attribute most of the fossil record to the brief period of the flood and its aftermath. They believe that the majority of plants and animals buried sequentially in the stratified rocks once lived together in the antediluvian world.
As alluded to above, 'creation science' has its roots in George McCready Price. Price's development of 'flood geology' was a way to not only reconcile scripture and geology, but to also cut off evolution at its base, since evolutionary theory depended on the orderly sequence of the fossil record to be able to infer biological change over time (radiometric dating had not yet been developed). Price sought out geological anomalies such as the Lewis Overthrust where fossils appeared out of order to argue that there was no real order to the fossil record, and therefore no way to infer biological change over time. He was mostly ignored by the geology community--and even by his own church--but he attracted a following, though some associates broke with him on several issues. His concepts were re-packaged in the 1960's by John Whitcomb and Henry Morris (who passed away a few days ago) in their book, The Genesis Flood, which helped launch the modern YEC movement.
Henry Morris went on to help form the Creation Research Society (CRS)--the first strict creationist society to survive long-term (others had dissolved in bickering) and later the Institute for Creation Research (ICR). A number of these leading creationists held Ph.D. degrees in subjects like engineering, physics, and biology, yet until 1969 'flood geology' did not have any doctoral geologist supporters. In a repeated scenario, creationist geology doctoral students eventually came to disbelieve in the central tenets of 'flood geology.' Since then the movement (including several different organizations such as Answers in Genesis) has gained a number of scientifically trained people from a variety of fields, although their contribution to 'creation science' has often consisted largely of arm-chair speculation and library research devoted to finding weaknesses in opponents' work. What they lack in genuine scientific evidence they make up for in confidence and argumentation.
Numbers does not seek to refute creationist claims, but as a matter of historical record he does document disagreements and sloppy research. For example the famous Paluxey footprints were touted in The Genesis Flood as showing that humans and dinosaurs co-existed because they each left prints in the same rock formation. However the original claim came from Clifford Burdick, a man who possesed zeal but was ultimately untrustworthy and sensationalistic. Even though the footprint claim was eventually retracted by Henry Morris, it can still be found in creationist literature.
Because the book covers creationism from the late nineteenth century on, it can be boring as the details of the struggles of long-dead figures are presented, although it is remarkable how little the basic arguments surrounding reconciliation of science with scriptures have changed. The book begins to pick up when discussing George McCready Price and gets even more interesting with the story of how the more science-friendly Christian organization, American Science Affiliation (ASA), helped to spark a fundamentalist backlash. The later chapters deal with more modern creationists like Henry and John Morris, Duane Gish, and others, as well as some of the major court battles. Although Ken Ham is mentioned, the book pre-dates the formation of Answers in Genesis. Also, a portion of a chapter describes creationism in the LDS context and centers on the 1931 controversy, the publication of Man, His Origin and Destiny, and the creationist writings of Melvin Cook.
Why has YEC creation science become so popular? Numbers suggests that it is because it allows one to read the Bible without gymnastics. As explained above, very conservative Christians have reconciled scripture and geology using the day-age and gap theories, but creation science eliminates the need for such additional assumptions--the scriptures can be read and understood at face value. This straightforward accuracy, its proponents argue, invites confidence in all of scripture, including that portion dealing with future prophesied events. My own thought is that while many Christians do not accept strict creationist teachings in a systematic way, some appreciate them for the balance they represent against mainstream science.
Although such results may seem desirable at first glance, such an approach to scripture seems problematic in the LDS context. The Creationists provides perspective and understanding of this religious movement and challenges us to consider where we should stand on similar issues.
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